On March 11, Sevinj Vagifgizi (Abbasova), the imprisoned editor-in-chief of "Abzas Media," gave a free statement in court. The journalist rejected all the accusations made by the investigation during the trial at the Baku Serious Crimes Court and revealed the true reasons behind her arrest.

We present Sevinj Vagifgizi's statement as it is:

"How much truth can a person endure?" – German philosopher Nietzsche posed this question.

In the case of the country’s leader, Ilham Aliyev, we can say that it lasted for 2 years and 2 months. When we began our investigations, he no longer wanted to hear the truth about himself and the corrupt government he had built.

Therefore, it is not surprising that when Ulvi was detained, an operative of the Baku City Main Police Department, Rauf Guliyev, did not question him about the charges against him but rather asked, "Why do you write about corruption instead of the developments in Karabakh?"

So, what were we writing about?

While government television channels were mesmerizing the public with the song "Returning to Khankendi," we revealed that the "Khan" himself had returned to Karabakh ahead of everyone else, distributing arable lands among his family and bureaucratic companies without conducting land reforms.

As forcibly displaced persons returned to Karabakh, officials had already become owners of vast land plots. Meanwhile, Karabakh war veterans had turned into laborers on the lands they had liberated, either not receiving their payments on time or at all.

We exposed that, despite the president's claim that "Shusha will be a city of culture, not a city of officials," he had turned not only Shusha but all of Karabakh into a city for officials.

What other truths did we uncover?

Through our court investigations, we revealed that, despite the president's statement that "regardless of their position in society, those who engage in corruption, bribery, and lawlessness will be severely punished," his close circle of officials was shielded from this so-called fight against corruption. Even when ministers' names were mentioned in court, judges refused to summon them for questioning over corruption charges.

Naturally, the employees of "Abzas Media," who exposed the contradiction between Ilham Aliyev's words and actions, became the target of his wrath. Throughout his 21-year rule, Aliyev has never declared his income, yet he accuses 23 journalists of bringing money into the country without declaring it at customs. However, none of the accused have ever been detained at customs, nor has undeclared money ever been found on them.

None of the documents that the investigation considers "evidence" are original. Our motions to investigate how the signatures appeared on these "documents" were not granted by the investigative authorities.

The investigation claims that we are an "organized criminal group" based on the fact that our foreign travels have occasionally overlapped. Every person has the right to freedom of movement and can travel to any country they wish. Traveling abroad is not a crime.

The investigative body examined trips dating back to 2015, a time when "Abzas Media" did not even exist.

Our friend, economist Farid Meheralizade, who was arrested as part of this case, was never an employee of "Abzas Media." When we asked the investigator why he was arrested, he jokingly replied that Farid and I were born in the same city, Fuzuli. Apart from our shared hometown, no connection between him and the case has been proven.

The charges against six other journalists are based on statements extracted under physical and psychological pressure from Mammad Kekalov at the Baku City Main Police Department. He was held for more than 48 hours without a lawyer and was forced to reject the lawyer hired by his family. The state-appointed lawyer did not file a single appeal regarding his pretrial detention for an entire year. It seems the state lawyer was content with Kekalov remaining behind bars.

We always anticipated that exposing corruption in Azerbaijan would eventually lead to arrests. That is why, in our conversation with Mammad, we told him that if he were ever threatened with torture to testify against Ulvi or me, he should agree. The fact that Mammad gave testimony against us indicates that he faced such threats.

It is deeply regrettable that the Azerbaijani government, lacking evidence, resorts to coercing people into testifying against their friends and sending them to prison.

Our arrests are meant to silence us and remove us from our work because we exposed the corruption crimes of Ilham Aliyev and his circle. We refused to engage in the kind of "authorized journalism" that the government prefers.

The investigative authorities portray "Abzas Media" as an entity that "creates the appearance of being an independent and professional media outlet." But we are not an appearance; we are an independent and professional media outlet.

At the Baku City Main Police Department, investigative journalist Hafiz Babalı was distracted by the dirt on the windows. He later uncovered how the funds allocated for cleaning the department's windows had been embezzled.

The department that accuses us of "dirty money" would do well to ensure that its own windows are cleaned properly and on time.

Ilham Aliyev now calls the arrested media workers and activists "traitors," "sellouts," and "brainwashed youth." We are neither traitors nor sellouts, nor are we brainwashed. We are journalists who have exposed his lies. Our job is to alert citizens to political manipulations and warn them of impending dangers.

If you have noticed, throughout the investigation, every motion we submitted was rejected with a final note reading "completely denied," signed by a single person—Togrul Huseynov, the chief investigator of the Baku City Main Police Department, a police colonel-lieutenant.

While reviewing the 27 volumes of investigative materials, Huseynov was reading Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson's book "Why Nations Fail." This book, based on years of research, concludes that extractive policies—those serving the interests of a ruling elite while impoverishing the rest of society—ultimately lead to the decline of nations and states. Yet, this very investigator, who was reading about the dangers of extractive politics, willingly signed off on the imprisonment of journalists exposing such a system.

Because that is the only way to advance in position. And he was rewarded—promoted from chief investigator to head of the investigative department.

At the beginning of the trial, you too agreed to sign off on this decline by rejecting all of our motions except for one. I hope you are rewarded as well.

This case is not about smuggling, illegal business activities, tax evasion, or forgery. It is about intolerance to the truth. Those who speak the truth and those who cannot endure it are now in plain sight."

Sevinj Vagifgizi, March 11, 2025